Former Nova Scotia women's curling champions Kay Zinck of Mayflower and Virginia Jackson of Truro have two wins each after the first day of play Wednesday at the Scott Tournament of Hearts provincial women's championship in Yarmouth.

Eight teams -- six from Mayflower -- will compete through Saturday in a round-robin format with the winner being decided in a championship game on Sunday. The winner advances to the Scott Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's championship, Feb. 19-27 in St. John's, Nfld.

Zinck, the 2000 Nova Scotia champ and a former Canadian Scott winner with Colleen Jones, improved to 2-0 in the evening draw by beating defending champ Heather Smith-Dacey of Mayflower 7-3. It marked a rematch of last year's final.

"We had a great day," said Zinck, who established a 7-1 lead and finished off Smith-Dacey in eight ends. "The teams we played today didn't curl the best they can curl. Without a doubt they weren't on their games, but . . . we were on our game. We played steady from every position."

Smith-Dacey (1-1) took her first defeat in a provincial playdown game after 12 straight victories dating to last year's early Scott qualifier. She went 8-0 to win the provincial title at her home club last winter.

Zinck built a 4-0 advantage by stealing single points in the third, fourth and fifth ends and broke it open with a three-ender in the seventh.

"Just to have that sound a game against Heather's team -- last year's provincial winner -- definitely has us feeling good about our play," she said.